6 Things Ryan Coogler's Student Film ‘Locks’ Can Teach Filmmakers

Before Sinners , before Black Panther , before Fruitvale Station (and before his Oscar win last weekend), Ryan Coogler was a fresh, young USC grad student with a 16mm camera and a story he needed to tell.

His 2009 short Locks is just six minutes long, set in Oakland, and follows a man with dreadlocks as he walks through his neighborhood. He sees two other men (also with dreadlocks) being frisked by police officers and tucks his own hair away. He makes his way to a local barbershop.

After he sees a vision of a child and a parent, he goes into the babershop and gets his head shaved. He returns home with his dreadlocks in a bag. It’s revealed he has a sister who has also lost her hair for an undisclosed reason.

There's no dialogue. The stakes are quiet but enormous.

It screened at Tribeca, won the Dana and Albert Broccoli Award for Filmmaking Excellence, and marked the beginning of one of the most significant directing careers in contemporary American cinema.

Watch it, then let's discuss what it teaches us.

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The Best Films Are Personal, Not Conceptual

Coogler explained the real-world context for the short at a Cannes event in 2018. He revealed that dreadlocks had become associated with police stops in Oakland. People were cutting them off for safety.

“At the time, everybody had that hair, so it became a trend, but it also became notorious,” said Coogler. “It got to a point where people started cutting them off because the police stopped you less if you didn’t have them. There was less chance of a mistaken identity.”

It’s a great example of looking around your environment and seeing what stories there are to tell. You might be inside it. It’ll resonate even more if it’s an issue or stake you care about personally. And that’s because your most specific, personal material is almost always your most universal.

When you’re setting out to make your short film, a concept can be a great starting point, but remember to find the thematic weight, too.

Know the Subtext

As The Ringer points out, the title of the short pulls double duty. Locks could be dreadlocks, or they could refer to the handcuffs the police are using to detain the two men the character sees in the opening. The reference is smart but also establishes the short’s dramatic tension immediately.

Clearly, the narrative was personal to Coogler, as we’ve heard already, and he was making a political statement through the most intimate possible lens. But he also gives the character a grounded reason for the choice, which is revealed in the final shots. You can rewatch the short with that subtext in mind and see something else in the character’s story.

Subtext isn't just about what a character doesn't say. It's about building a world where every detail carries more weight than it appears. Locks does that.

See more examples of subtext.

Fruitvale Station Credit: The Weinstein Company,

Silence as a Storytelling Tool

Coogler wanted that lack of dialogue on purpose.

“I admire filmmakers who let the type of story dictate the cinematic style, dictate the mise-en-scène, dictate how they approach, how they capture, how they work,” he told The Dissolve.

The lack of dialogue here allows tension to build as we learn where the character is, why he’s afraid, and what he’ll eventually do and why.

The choice to keep the film dialogue-free also means that more of that great subtext comes to the forefront. The character hides his hair because he believes it will keep him safe, but then finds another form of safety in the community he meets in the next scene (and many of the men also have dreadlocks).

Try trusting behavior over dialogue. Can you tell a story without having the characters explain what they’re doing or feeling? A short film is a great place to try this.

Build Relationships Early

Locks was the first Coogler/Ludwig Göransson collaboration, and they just both won Oscars for Sinners. They've worked together on every feature since this short.

Göransson was also a USC student at the time. They found each other in school, not on a professional set.

The people you find early may be the people you're still calling on your 10th film. Don't treat even student projects like throwaway exercises. These teams might be your crew for years to come.

On your end, learn to be a good collaborator. Show up prepared and with a good attitude. Be someone people want to work with again, because in this industry, almost everything comes down to relationships and reputation.

Keep It Short and Commit Fully

I’ve long been an advocate for short shorts. We all have ambitions, but if you have a 20-page short, you’ll soon find in the breakdown stage that you may be waaaay over your head. Twenty pages can easily balloon into a hundred shots, multiple camera set-ups, and a schedule your budget can’t sustain.

Locks is six minutes, no subplots, one walk, one decision. It doesn't have any twists or wild visuals; it just builds quiet, easy tension. Coogler commits to a single neighborhood, a single journey, a single barbershop. There are no POV shifts. We stay with this character the whole time, and we know what he cares about and what he’s afraid of.

Scope is often the enemy of student work. Scale down, then figure out if you have time and money for more.

Your Short Is a Stepping-Stone for What’s Next

You can draw a line from Locks to Fruitvale Station. It deals with the same themes (family, police aggression, and Black identity in America). The short helped prepare Coogler for what was next.

The filmmakers who break through usually make something true, and it doesn’t have to be something technically impressive. Know what your voice is, know what you care about. Be ready to pitch your bigger ideas, and in the meantime, keep getting experience wherever you can.

Watch short films. Get inspired. Learn from them. Then go make something.